Kitty Genius

Discovery!

I'm sorry this is a very local-to-Portland post, but I think most everyone can relate to it. I have noticed in Portland that produce (specifically fruit, but some veggies too) do not impress me that much. I know, I know it's CRAZY, preposterous even, but it's kind of true. Berries, I am not looking at you.

In St. Louis the two locally owned grocery stores I went to, Schnucks and Dierbergs, (p.s. I thought every major city worked like this and had its own good non-national supermarket) had AMAZING fruit. And yes, most of it supplied by nearby farms. Sure, they flew things in from South America, etc. and yes, I support eating what is in season, not just what you want when you want it, and all that stuff that we agree on for the most part. And no, I don't know their politics.

I am just saying very simply I thought when I moved here I would be knocked over with the abundance of impressive fruit. New Seasons (like a local Whole Foods) is great but expensive and I love farmers' markets but sometimes I just need to run and pick up some veggies any ol' time I want. SO, moving to this neighborhood I was a little afraid of what my neighborhood grocery would have to offer.

Well, now you CAN knock me over with a feather when we went to Portland Fruit Company. I was honestly prepared to be disappointed but oh my was I wrong. And the prices!!! This is what we bought for UNDER $20

They have like 3 or 6 lbs or something crazy of brown bananas for 50 cents (banana bread is literally in my oven). The owner waited on us and was as NICE as can be. He said it would be their 17th anniversary soon, and it made me so proud to be in my new neighborhood. They even offer to hold your bags so you can walk to the other grocery store and not schlep your purchase from them with you. And they offer discounted prices when you buy by the crate. I mean peppers for 65 cents! And it is all really pretty. We are making corn chowder right now and opening that corn up was almost like a present, it was so pretty and perfect. I am not much of a cook but this being so close by… I am really excited.

Banana Bread

I love banana bread. I love easy recipes. This my friends, is BOTH!

I used this recipe with a few changes.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Lightly grease an 8 × 4 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and mashed bananas. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt just until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. If top begins to brown too quickly, decrease heat slightly. Center should be soft and chewy, while the outside, crisp and crunchy.

After looking at the reviews I did make just a few changes and it was well worth it. I used 5 ripe bananas instead of 3. I added 1½ teaspoons of vanilla, about 1½ cups of chopped walnuts, and I put brown sugar on the top before I popped it in the oven.

I always buy banana bread at Starbucks or coffee places and I am thinking not so much anymore. Sooo good! I see many weekends filled with banana bread making.

Weekending Thanksgiving style

First, a BIG thank you for all your support during my buy one get one free sale! I have a LOT of shipping to do, which is a very good thing.

This weekend, in addition to the usual of filling orders and working on portraits, Drew and I had a Saturday of making chili and playing Rock Band, and later I went thrifting with my sister.

What did I find at the thrift store? Only the most amazing hand-carved, artist signed trees. Each tree is from a different type of wood (Cedar, Douglas Fir) and labeled as such. And only 99 cents each!

I think their perfect resting spot would be upon a giant white mantel. One day, one day…

I'll tell you, someone who had a lazy day was little Isadora. I kid you not this is how I found her midmorning (she did this to herself):

and this is how I found her at night:

Bookends of a cat and a day I suppose. REEEEdiculous.

And there was Thanksgiving shopping! Not all of it—I wanted to wait for the Sunday paper. I haven't gotten it in a long time but this weekend there should be toooooons of good coupons for things we need for the holidays so I picked up two.

If you want to see what Black Friday sales ads have leaked (remember to treat them as rumors though), you should check here.

Have a great weekend!

Weekending

This weekend was the antique expo in Portland and it is so so very large. I couldn't take a ton of photos, but here are some of the ones I snapped.

This dollhouse was so rickety and magical.

lovely book

booth after booth of ephemera

a chandelier that had a hunter whose legs turned into antlers. Wow.

cuckoo clock crazy

one of my favorites. What Drew called the tenement dollhouse. This was made from an old crate and hand-painted. Truly a piece of art.

After that Drew and I headed to a late lunch/early dinner and home for a nap!

Today I went highchair hunting with a friend and to a little french bakery that is so good and even cuter than it is tasty.

(iPhone pics on the way out) Next time i will get some of the interior.

Now, it is easing into a chilly, drizzly Sunday night. I'll take it! I hope your weekend was great!

Drew's birthday cake

So, September 5 was Drew's birthday and I am just now getting to posting what I thought was his pretty awesome cake.

A giant burger (white and chocolate cake, complete with sesame seeds on top), fries (white cake), and ketchup (icing)! Silly cake… I wish I could say I made it but alas it was a Fred Meyer cake.

We had a quiet birthday—just the two of us, and that is actually a first ever on Drew's birthday. But it was nice and we went to The Observatory, which is right by our house. The food was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I highly recommend it if you're in this neck of the woods. Great soup and salads too.

Here is something some of you may or may not know about. I Twittered about it a while ago.

Restaurant.com offers discounted gift certificates for local restaurants (put in your ZIP code or city). Normally they have a $25 one that you can buy for $10 or a $50 one you can buy for $20. Sometimes they have crazy discounts of 50% to 90% off. Enter the correct promo code. When they had the 90% deal I bought a $50 gift certificate and three $25 ones for a grand total of $5. Now—with your $25 gift certificate you will have to spend often times a minimum of $35, but that still means you're only paying $10. So just wanted to let you guys know. Read the restrictions, but it's still worth it and they are good for a year. : )

Right now until September 27 you can get 70% off. Just enter promo code TREAT. You just print out the gift certificate on your printer.

They didn't have restaurants I normally go to, but they had some I want to try… so fair enough!

Partners in Crime

Most of us have one if not more. Drew… my girlfriends… sometimes my mom. I wanted to celebrate that oh-so-special relationship with a new print. Which is now available in the shop!

I like to imagine they are holding pumpkins behind their backs. : ) Ohhhh… fall…

Speaking of my mom, she is actually in town as somewhat of a surprise visit, so I will keep this short and sweet.

Talk to you soon!

OH! and have you guys been making Emily's Brownies? I have now made them four times and every time they have been a hit! Thank you much Emily!!! So easy, so not messy, and the best brownies I have ever had.

Weekend

Howdy! I hope everyone's weekend is wrapping up nicely! Mine sure is. A few tidbits to share. We have notebooks available at Urban Outfitters (unfortunately they are not on the web site).

They are super sturdy, beautifully bound and like $5.00!

No weekend is a weekend to me without a strong cup of coffee. I cannot get enough cinnamon in my coffee lately (in the afternoon, though; morning coffee has to be just straight up coffee for me), and please note I still love my Via Venezia more than any other piece of kitchen equipment. I even got one for my mom for her birthday and my best friend bought one too. Hmmm… they seem to be out of stock but they were on super sale about 6 weeks ago at the Starbucks around here and in St. Louis.

I went with my friend Danni to a coffee shop neither of us had ever been to, Cartola. I loved it there.

Just look at a bit of the decor.

Marble tables, tufted seats, taxidermy, old photos, gilded mirrors, and lovely light fixtures all in a tiny space? Yes. And you KNOW who this place made think of.

What summer brings

Veggies! and fruits!

Sunday has been our market day and here is this week's bounty:

I'm going to make an onion soup, which explains all the onions. As far as the rest, I have been obsessed with a simple summer salad I threw together and we have been eating it with a hearty tomato soup for lunch or dinner a few times a week.

The salad is just spring greens, a bunch of chopped basil and cilantro, raw pine nuts and little balls of mozzarella. The dressing is balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and sugar poured over the salad and then tossed. Everything is just done to taste but I recommend a lot of vinegar.

The other thing is of course mashed carrots (yes, I know I have talked about them before, but I love them and have improved them). I don't have a photo this time around but scrape your carrots, boil them until fork tender, and with a hand mixer (or by hand) mash them as lumpy or smooth as you prefer. Right before you start mashing them sauté some butter and 3–4 cloves of garlic diced. Once the garlic is golden add it to the the carrots along with salt and pepper. Comfort food to the max! I buy the biggest bag of carrots the grocery store has and do it all at once. It stays great in the fridge for 3–4 days.

If you're a salad enthusiast like me and you haven't seen this yet check out Recipes for 101 Simple Salads for the Season by Mark Bittman.

p.s. I am making a goal for myself to blog at least every other day in August. I feel like I have fallen off the bloggin’ wagon and I need to get back on. I hope you'll stop by. : )

A Foody Kind of Day

This is actually yesterday's breakfast/lunch, but it was so good I'm making it again. Egg whites, fresh salsa from the outdoor market up the street, and veggie sausage. I prefer tofu over egg white scrambles, but I like to mix it up.

Not too much to report today. Trying to stay cool and work on some sketches. We were out running errands before it gets too hot. I can't get enough iced mochas and coffee in the summer.

Another thing I can't get enough of in summer are salads—so tasty and easy to make. I have my own concoctions, but I was looking for a few new ones, and I think this Strawberry Romaine Salad looks great.

INGREDIENTS
1 head romaine lettuce - rinsed, dried, and chopped
2 bunches fresh spinach - chopped, washed and dried
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
1 Bermuda onion, sliced
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/3 cup white sugar
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

DIRECTIONS
In a large salad bowl, combine the romaine, spinach, strawberries and sliced onion.
In a jar with a tight fitting lid, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, milk and poppy seeds. Shake well and pour the dressing over salad. Toss until evenly coated.

I hope you have a great day!